1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a side mold, a backlight assembly having the same, a method thereof, and a liquid crystal display (“LCD”) having the backlight assembly, and more particularly, to a backlight assembly having a lamp socket and a side mold, a method of assembling the backlight assembly, an LCD having the backlight assembly, and a side mold included in the backlight assembly.
2. Description of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display (“LCD”) includes an LCD panel having two substrates having a plurality of electrodes thereon and a liquid crystal layer interposed there between and controls the transmittance of incident light by applying voltages to the electrodes to rearrange liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer. A backlight assembly supplying the LCD panel with light is disposed below the LCD panel. The backlight assembly is classified into an edge-type and a direct-type according to the position of a light source within the backlight assembly. In an edge-type backlight assembly, a plurality of lamps used as the light source are arranged at lateral sides of a bottom chassis. In a direct-type backlight assembly, a plurality of lamps used as the light source are arranged on the bottom surface of a bottom chassis.
In the direct-type backlight assembly, the plurality of lamps are inserted into corresponding lamp sockets so as to be engaged with the bottom chassis. A side mold covers the top surface of the lamp sockets into which the plurality of lamps are inserted. Some of the lamp sockets protrude toward the rear surface of the bottom chassis to be electrically connected with a power supply.
Since the lamp sockets are separate from one another, their positions may fluctuate randomly, which impairs structural stability of the backlight assembly. In addition, the work of inserting the lamps into the respective lamp sockets should be accurately controlled, leading to an increase in time required for assembly.